iMovie Has Ridiculous Demands?

[bobber205]

I swear. I used to "love" iMovie but now I'm growing to hate it.

First I've learned that imovie works best with DV files and that stop weird playback problems I have am having is b/c I don't have the clips in DV format.

I have been using mp4 b/c they import within about a minute for two for a 30 minute file.

Now that I'm "using" dv streams, I almost have to wait a whole day to import what used to take 10 minutes. This seems stupid!

What Do i DO!?! Aargh. Is DV the only choice. B/c if it is, I may never use iMovie again.

What's a format that won't take 5- 10 hours to import anything. I see if I was trying to import a 24 hour clip, it would take a few hours. But there's no way in hell that a 25-30 minute clip should take a dozen hours.

Please. I need to know what to use. This is driving me bananas. Surely Apple doesn't expect me to wait a week to get all my stuff imported so I can start on my project do they?



Thanks for any help.

</rant>

 

[killmoms]

iMovie is designed to edit DV or HDV clips from a camera that captures in those formats, not anything else. Any "problems" you're having if that's not how you're using it stem from you attempting to use the program in a manner other than designed.

 

[bobber205]

That makes sense.

But is there a friendly video editing program for those of us not wanting to edit video from a camera?

Surely there's a market for that.

 

[Fearless Leader]

^^ thats what i thought movie was, I havent used it for 2 years. (FCP baby ) Try a couple of versions back.

 

[killmoms]

Not really. iMovie is much more restricted than even FCE.

Final Cut Express might be a good solution for you, bobber205. But keep in mind that you need to be editing in a video format conducive to editing. For instance, trying to cut with an inter-frame compressed movie (something like DivX/XviD, H.264, or other formats like that) is never a good idea. You need to cut with something that's intra-frames only, so the program doesn't need to perform calculations forward every time you go to a non-I-frame. In other words, you'd need to convert what I'm guessing are compressed clips to an uncompressed or I-frame-based codec (Uncompressed RGB, Animation, PNG, Apple Intermediate or something like that—all at full quality) to edit them more easily.

 

[bobber205]

Not really. iMovie is much more restricted than even FCE.

Final Cut Express might be a good solution for you, bobber205. But keep in mind that you need to be editing in a video format conducive to editing. For instance, trying to cut with an inter-frame compressed movie (something like DivX/XviD, H.264, or other formats like that) is never a good idea. You need to cut with something that's intra-frames only, so the program doesn't need to perform calculations forward every time you go to a non-I-frame. In other words, you'd need to convert what I'm guessing are compressed clips to an uncompressed or I-frame-based codec (Uncompressed RGB, Animation, PNG, Apple Intermediate or something like that—all at full quality) to edit them more easily.

What are good apps for this?

I've tried DV video. While it's editing very nicely, it takes ungodly amounts of space. And time.

What's a better format? What apps can convert the types you listed?

 

[killmoms]

All the formats I listed take MORE space than DV but are usually faster to convert to, assuming your hard drive is quick. Honestly though, converting to DV really shouldn't take that long. I'm wondering why you're experiencing such long waits. QuickTime converts to DV pretty fast, even on my old PowerBook G4, so I can't help but think you're doing something wrong.

Also, why are you importing 30 minute files?! Are you really using the bulk of that material? Why not just pick and choose clips out of the larger file using QuickTime? What are you trying to cut together here, exactly?

Editing formats take more space by their nature because they focus on delivering more quality and less compression. Any editing format you use will take a fair amount of space. You only compress down once you're done editing and are ready for final delivery. This is why any editor should have a hard drive (or three) devoted to video.

 

[Cromulent]

What are good apps for this?

I've tried DV video. While it's editing very nicely, it takes ungodly amounts of space. And time.

What's a better format? What apps can convert the types you listed?

ffmpegX is your friend for all things video conversion. Just do a Google search for it.